I’ll admit: I’ve had a bit of a financial reading overload lately, so I’ve pared back my writing and reading a bit. Quitting day is coming up soon, too, and I’ve been focused on the SEO with a lot of my time, too.

How do I get past the burnout? Watch money movie clips instead! Sure, most of them are fiction, but there’s still some important lessons to be found as always.

I had a little fun with a few movie clips that I think of when I think of money advice.

Making sure to get the money, not just save it

The classic “money” movie line from Jerry McGuire that we all think of when we want the money:

Lesson: Go for the money instead of simply trying to cut back. Eventually you just gotta say it!

Excessive greed and cheapness will burn you

Trading Spaces is definitely one of the funniest money movies of all time. Here’s a clip towards the end of the movie (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it before):

Lesson: Greed will only come back to get you. Don’t be cheap, especially when you can afford to be generous.

Moving to the world of smartphones

Not exactly a money-related quote, but I just made it one. Billy Madison says it best for me:

 

Lesson: “Stay” with a cheap phone as long as you can. You’ll save a bundle, and the other side might not be so awesome anyway.

Spending money to make money isn’t always the worst thing

Ah, the original classic movie about big business and greed: Citizen Kane!

http://youtu.be/tzhb3U2cONs?t=2m5s (sorry, you have to go to YouTube to see this one)

Lesson: Not every business move you make will be profitable, and you sometimes need to spend money to make money. You don’t have to go broke, but you do need a strategy.

Smarter than the next guy

The Sting is one of my favorite movies, period. Newman + Redford = legendary.

This clip is one of their many cons throughout the movie. Damn are these guys smart.

Lesson: You don’t have to be the only one in business. You just have to be willing to do what it takes to “out-hustle” the others in your pack.

Big Corporations can be “lose-lose”

I love Jimmy Stewart, and I’m sure everyone is familiar with his role as George Bailey, President of the Savings and Loan in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Lesson: The “big guys” aren’t always bad news, but often the small, local companies can relate to your better. Seek to do business with those who care about your community and even you, rather than those that just seem to give the best deal on the surface.

Awful jobs

Who can forget the miserable cubicle workers on the cult classic Office Space. Watching Peter live a miserable life from corporate desk is enough to make anyone sick to their stomach:

Lesson: No one wants to deal with “TPS reports” every day. Find a job that you can love rather than one where you merely exist.

Hope you enjoyed the clips!

Are there any other money movie moments you would add?

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Did the title make you uncomfortable or defensive? Good.

It’s probably not new news to you that everything likes to read things that simply back up what they already think and do. Finances are no different. We like to confirm we have all the answers, and we like to be on the right track. Sure, there are little tweaks here and there to our lives but not too much to really shake things up.

But here’s the problem: reading more about what you already know and believe in won’t do you any good. In fact, it’s a waste of your time. What’s the point of simply listen to someone agree with you for 1,000 words? So you can use it to defend yourself against others that disagree with you?

An Example from Get Rich Slowly

A little over a week ago, Joe from Retire by 40 wrote a post (we’ll call it Post #1) about leaving his six-figure corporate job to pursue something else. Joe sorta framed his post to make it sound like he was following a problogger pipe dream, but I don’t think that’s how he intended it. Joe also left out important details about how his wife works and will continue to do so by her own choice and desire, which you can read about on his blog. The way I read his GRS post: he’s excited to do quit his job and leave his boring corporate life behind him.

But the overal feedback: incredible disdain from the GRS community. Some people hated this post and seemed to disagree with everything Joe mentioned, too. Just take a look at some of the comments. I have to wonder what extreme comments were filtered out beyond what’s shown.

Flash forward to one week later – Post #2: A reader named “Knot Theory” had his (I’m assuming it’s a he, but not sure) story published, which is essentially a post about how he quit a job that he hated, took a boring job instead, and has never been happier since.

And the commenters? Couldn’t love it enough! People were singing the praises in the comments, with one reader calling it “one the bests posts read til date.”

Okay, I’ll give you that the two posts had slightly different tones and were written in different ways, but did each really deserve the comments that they got?

Why the lovefest for Post #2 but not #1?

Post #2 had a feel-good tone for how you don’t have to love your job to be happy in life. I’m cool with that (although I have a hard time feeling as awesome about it as some of the commenters do).

But I think post #1 is as much of a feel-good story to me as is post #2. They were both about giving up something the writer hates and moving on to a life that’s happier and hopefully more fruitful.

What it looks like to me: readers love the second post SO much more because it’s what they identify with. These commenters are plugging along at the 9-5 (and either are or are hoping to make six figures), and it doesn’t fly in the face of their plan in life.

To me, it’s simple why it came out this way: we love hearing that the path we’ve chosen is the right one and the best one. We love these little stories that we can point to and say “I knew I was doing the right thing!” It’s music to the ears.

At the same time, it’s often frustrating and even annoying to hear about people that disagree with how you approach things.

You can look at both ends of any two-sided debate and find plenty of support that you can read and just agree with. If we’re talking the nine-to-fiver vs. the entrepreneur, there’s plenty of material out there to tell you that you can be happy and successful on either path.

For the worker-bees, their life and belief is some variation of “Just show up for work, put in your time, invest in a retirement plan, and you’ll have it made when the time comes. Being an entrepreneur is very risky, and most people fail and go bankrupt.”

For the entrepreneurial-minded, there are plenty of people, blogs, and books that will go the other way and say “Showing up at a 9-5 every day until your 65 is no way to live. It’s a boring life. There’s so much more potential for both happiness and wealth if you strike on your own.”

We can find support and successes on both sides within the blogosphere, not to mention in stories throughout the media. Neither is right and neither is wrong.

A Lesson: Be willing to listen to the other side without calling them wrong

Look, I feel just as uncomfortable and annoyed watching Fox News as every left-winger does. But does that mean I should just spend my whole life criticizing Fox News and just watching the Daily Show? I’m not that close-minded, and I hope others aren’t, either.

From reading this blog, you can probably guess that I align more with Joe and post #1. It’s certainly motivational to read articles like these to get me moving in the direction I want to go. But I don’t think that post #2 is stupid, and I can get a lot out of reading that as well.

Does quitting my job and giving up on finding a career I might like make me nervous? Hell yes!! Because of that, it’s interesting and informative to listen to both sides.

Sometimes the “other” side can make solid points and even be right from time to time. Just accept it.

Do you find yourself reading a lot of articles and posts that simply agree with what you already believe?

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photo from:  thivierr

Goal setting is deeply ingrained in our lives, or at least our idea of what it takes to succeed.

It shows up at job interviews, relationships when searching for a mate, and in our finances (as evidenced by the abundance of posts on goals published in early 2012).

If you don’t have goals, you’re likely to be labeled as lazy, unambitious, and lacking direction in life.

But is that fair? And is it true?

I was recently heard of the “no goals” concept on the Man vs. Debt Podcast, and now it’s really got me thinking. Baker interviewed Leo Babauta from Zen Habits fame about his stance on not setting goals.

Here’s Leo’s take on his problem with goals. (note that while this isn’t plagiarism anyway, I think it’s way cool that Zen Habits is uncopyrighted)

“In the past, I’d set a goal or three for the year, and then sub-goals for each month. Then I’d figure out what action steps to take each week and each day, and try to focus my day on those steps.

Unfortunately, it never, ever works out this neatly. You all know this. You know you need to work on an action step, and you try to keep the end goal in mind to motivate yourself. But this action step might be something you dread, and so you procrastinate. You do other work, or you check email or Facebook, or you goof off.

And so your weekly goals and monthly goals get pushed back or side-tracked, and you get discouraged because you have no discipline. And goals are too hard to achieve. So now what? Well, you review your goals and reset them. You create a new set of sub-goals and action plans. You know where you’re going, because you have goals!

Of course, you don’t actually end up getting there. Sometimes you achieve the goal and then you feel amazing. But most of the time you don’t achieve them and you blame it on yourself.

Here’s the secret: the problem isn’t you, it’s the system! Goals as a system are set up for failure.

Even when you do things exactly right, it’s not ideal. Here’s why: you are extremely limited in your actions. When you don’t feel like doing something, you have to force yourself to do it. Your path is chosen, so you don’t have room to explore new territory. You have to follow the plan, even when you’re passionate about something else.

Some goal systems are more flexible, but nothing is as flexible as having no goals.”

I don’t know about you, but this definitely describes some of the situations in my life. Getting sidetracked, getting discouraged, and things just not working out as planned are all goal-related letdowns I’ve felt.

But as someone who considers themselves an ambitious person, the idea of having zero goals is a hard one to grasp for me. I’m not ready to give up yet, and I do think that I’m more successful when I have something to shoot for. I was pretty successful when I set up monthly money goals last year, too.

But I do see some merit in letting go of goals. I hate when I’m asked what my “5-year plan” is. There’s no way I can give a real answer for that (I usually just refuse anyway). Besides, how many people hit their 5-year goals anyway?

Here are five reasons why giving up on goals could be a good idea.

Let go of what you’re not enthusiastic about. This is the comment by Leo from the podcast that stuck with me the most. Once we set goals, we become very attached to them. But sometimes adaptability is better when we lose interest in something we were once excited about.

Don’t waste your time setting up goals. Setting goals can be a long and time-consuming process. You might create goals for many aspects of life, like money, health, travel, etc. Then you might set monthly, quarterly, yearly, and multi-year goals. Once you set them, you ideally check in on your progress. While it may be a good thing to take all these steps, it’s definitely something that takes time. Could this time be better spent on other tasks? In some cases, I think so.

Don’t set yourself up to be let down. No one hits 100% of what they set out to do all of the time. When we come up short, even if it’s not our fault, there’s often a sense of failure and letdown. Goals shouldn’t be about getting upset when you don’t accomplish what you hoped.

Concentrate on what’s most important. Goals may clash with what you want to do or need to do. What if a new opportunity comes up, and you have to make a choice between that and your goals?

Discover new things. Goals are somewhat limiting. The more specific you get, the less room there may be to expand beyond or outside the limits you’ve set. Without them, you don’t have to worry about screwing up your plans. You’re free to move in any direction you’d like.

I’m going to stick with some of my goals for now, and I’ll still take them seriously. But I’m not going to worry about changing or failing to meet my them. Either way, I think this is a good discussion to have.

Going forward, I think the most effective goal setting will be short-term, where I can have a reasonable chance of success for hitting them.

Do you feel goals give you the best chance to succeed?

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photo by: lululemon athletica

As some others have said as well, I’m not a big believer of resolutions, either (I refuse to even call them that). But I know I’ve struggled without clear goals. So, with my 2011 accomplishments in mind, here are my goals for 2012.

I hate to bore you with another “goals” post, but note that I’m going to analyze this a little differently than looking at years, quarters, or months. Instead, I’m going set goals for when I leave my job in May.

Income

1. Make $2,500 of side income a month by the end of May. To do this, I’ll aim to increase my income by $300 each month until I hit that goal. That means I need to earn $1,300 in January.

This is a reasonable goal given my income now and that any side work that I do still has to fit around my job schedule. Currently, I’m making $500-$1,000 a month with Money Spruce, but most of that just comes down to which clients approach me. That means I’ll have to make up for the rest with writing and SEO income.

In addition to just being where I want to be once I quit my job, this income is liveable at least temporarily while I make the transition from my job.

Target date: starts in January

2. Find one new client for SEO each month. I haven’t had a steady stream of work yet, but I’ll have to be honest in saying that I haven’t done my best in seeking out SEO work, either.

Target date: end of January

Blogging

1. Decide what to focus on for Money Spruce. One of my pet peeves with blogs is when they don’t have a clear focus. But that’s something I’m completely guilty of, too.

I tried to focus on quitting my job last year, but I think I got a little too narrow and didn’t give myself enough to write about. I’ve a few ideas for how I can better focus this time, and once I decide on how I’ll approach it, I’ll give an update on here.

Target date: End of January

2. Guest post at least once a month. I’ve done a poor job at this, and there’s really no excuse other than not taking the time to make it happen. I’m still confident that this is one of the best ways to attract new readers as well as build better relationships with other bloggers.

Target start date: end of January

3. Set up my email series. I’ve had an Aweber account set up for Money Spruce since the start, and I currently have about 80 subscribers on there. I wrote an ebook called “Money After College” to give away for free to anyone that signs up (Aweber makes it really easy to do that). I’m working now to turn that (along with new material) into an email series. I also plan to do a better job promoting it on the site.

Target date: end of February

4. Hit 200 email subscribers by May. Again, this is my goal for Aweber email subscribers. I’m a big believer that an email list is better for both the readers as well as for me to reach readers and offer them the best content. My main strategy for making this happen is to guest post to build more traffic to the site and then do a better job of capturing readers by making my signup more prominent and alluring.

Target date: end of May

5. Start a second blog. I came really close to doing this in the fall, but I wasn’t 100% sure that the new site that I set up was exactly the focus that I wanted it to be.

I’m still committed to Money Spruce, so the next blog may have to have multiple authors since I simply can’t write enough to be on both sites. I’m considering doing this either through staff writers or by partnering with another blogger.

Target date: end of April

Life and Travel

1. Travel to a foreign country at least once. I don’t have any trips planned yet, and I’m not even sure where I’m headed after I plan to leave New Haven in June, but I’ll put more thought into this in the coming months.At the very least I’ll be in Portland in July for the World Domination Summit and in Denver in September for the Financial Bloggers Conference (can’t wait!)

Target date: Planned by end of May

2. Declutter before I move. I’ve done a good job of this when moving the past. I’ve also joined the Declutter Challenge to help me along the way and get rid of 366 things. Should be easy.

Target date: End of May

3. Work with a mentor. I’ve been in contact with a few people that I think have mentor potential, but I wouldn’t say their mentors of mine yet. Perhaps just a few more emails and projects will make that happen. I think it’s something that I really need to succeed, so this is an important goal for success.

Target date: Start communications by end of January

If I complete these goals, I’ll be in great shape both in terms of finances and happiness in life.

I’m excited for this year, and a little scared of the unknown, too. But I think that’s what keeps life exciting. I’ve been too comfortable the last couple of years, and maybe that’s even more scary than being afraid of uncertainty.

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As of today, I’m proud/pleased/excited to say that I’m 100% free of debt! No more student loans, credit card balances, auto loans, or anything like that! I paid more than $8,000 off in loans this year, and it feels great to be free for the first time in 8 years.

 

I’m free!!!! (just like in Shawshank Redemption)

 

My Debt-Free Strategy

1. Keep debt low from the start and don’t take on new debt. The easiest way to get rid of debt is to never get in it in the first place. Some of the ways I avoided debt were:

• Went to a state college (UMass) instead of an expensive university that would’ve cost more than twice as much
• Applied for and was awarded a teaching assistant for graduate school, which paid for my tuition as well as a stipend
• Stuck with used cars (after making the mistake of financing a new car at age 18)
• Giving up credit cards so that I don’t run the risk of carrying a balance no matter what happens

2. Set a solid goal. I wanted to be 100% debt free by the end of 2011, and I made sure to stick to that goal. It’s part of a much bigger goal, actually, and it’s an important first step in a series of other goals. With this goal I paid off over $8,000 worth this year.

3. Make it a priority to pay down debt. I knew that I wanted to pay off all my debt before I quit my job and went on any other big, new adventures. I really hate the pressure of making monthly payments, so it was a must to get rid of all debt before I embark on my next journey.

3. Automize. I made it impossible to miss my goal of paying off balances by setting up automatic payments from my checking account to my loan servicing company. I set this up to occur every payday (I get paid twice a month), and I worked backwards from my debt-free date to figure out the payment I’d need to make each time.

It worked out to about $1,100 a month that I needed to pay (which is around one-third of my net pay at my job). It wasn’t the easiest amount to apply towards debt each time, but it was more important than anything else I could spend my money on.

5. Make it a priority to earn more. Over the last month I’ve made a few hundred dollars on Money Spruce (while being careful not to take away from the reader experience at all). This is part of my larger strategy to diversify my income through both this blog and other freelance writing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work.

I realize my debt was at a fairly low interest rate (6.8%), and I hope I didn’t end up in a situation like Todd. However the size of my debt was pretty small, and it really motivated me not to spend when I set the goal to pay off the debt. Perhaps it wasn’t the best thing I could do with my money financially, but I still think it was the right choice.

Now that my debt is gone, I’m going to take those monthly payments I was making (about $1,100) and put it in my “Quit My Job” fund. It’s easy to do this since I already know that I can live without this money, and I’m thinking I should get more aggressive and save at least a few hundred dollars more than that each month.

Did you pay off debt in 2011? What strategies worked for you?

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Whew, another year gone! It’s time for a review of the year and what went right and what didn’t.

My 2011 Theme: New Ideas

I learned so much in 2011, and I started several new projects and ventures. Most of what I’ve done online business and blog-wise this year were things that I had never heard of or considered before 2011. Now that I’ve learned all I have, I’m in a much better position to move forward with action in 2012.

What worked in 2011

- Earning some money online. While I may not have earned as much as I had hoped, I’m definitely for what I did earn. I’ve made some good connections and have developed a few income streams that will definitely grow in 2012.

- Making new friends. I’ve connected with a lot of new people in the online world, and was happy to meet a lot of them at FINCON11. It’s been great to have the support of all these people along my journey so far. Everyone at Yakezie have played a large part of this, and I’m grateful for everyone I’ve made contact with from there. I’m also made friends locally in New Haven through my Meetup group.

- Setting some goals. I set a goal to be debt free by the end of 2011, and I’m happy to say I’ve made that goal! (more on that soon). I also set a goal to save $10k by May 2012, and I’ve made some headway there, too.

- Attending my first conference. I attended FINCON11, and it was all I hoped it would be! Next year’s conference is shaping up to be even better.

- Committing to quit my job. Yes, I know I just started my job this year. But I already announced plans to quit (and confused a people in the process here on Money Spruce).  I’m 100% committed to making it happen (my boss already knows the date I plan to quit, actually).

- Traveling and time off from work. I had at least 4 weeks off of work this year, and I used my time to travel to Spain and vacation in Mexico and New England. I fit in a ton of weekend trips, too. I definitely enjoyed that, and I want more!

- Taking action. At the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, I felt that I was always simply reading and learning about online business and blogging without implementing. I’m glad that I quickly learned that it’s a huge waste of time to keep studying and planning without ever moving forward and actually doing something.

What didn’t go as well

- Growing Money Spruce as fast as I had hoped. My expectations were definitely not realistic, so I fell short of where I thought I’d be in year one. I know I didn’t give my best effort since I didn’t write guest posts, didn’t reach out to others as often as I could have, and simply didn’t put all the effort needed.

- Setting enough goals. Even though I feel I didn’t succeed, I didn’t have too many hard goals to point to that show that I fell short. More on goals for 2012 in the next post.

- Earning enough money to quit my job. I’m not at the point where I could immediately replace my full-time job income with freelance and blog income. This is something I need to work on, and something that I need to concentrate on in 2012 if I’m going to make this viable.

- Forming strong relationships. I definitely see the value in finding a mentor, but I haven’t really figured out how to form that relationship yet. I’ve exchanged emails with a few people I would love to have as mentors, but I just haven’t gotten to the level yet where that’s how I’d describe our relationship. I think this is going to be essential to my success in the next year, so I’ll keep working at it.

- Partnerships. Another area where I think there’s huge value by partnering with others on projects. I think I definitely have skills to offer and to collaborate with others, but I haven’t been approached and haven’t approached others yet, either.

Overall, I’m happy with where I’m at right now, but I’m excited to always be looking forward, too. I’ll have my goals for 2012 in my next post.

p.s. – If you have your own annual review, let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to link to it from this post! Here’s the list:

Sam at Financial Samurai – Top 5 Hits and Misses for 2011

Caleb at Pocket Changed – Annual Review: Looking Back at 2011

Ashley on Enemy of Debt – New Year’s Annual Review

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photo by: Margo!

Since I started my job and have been earning a solid income, I’ve committed first to eliminating all my debt before I start focusing on my “escape the job” fund. I’m happy to admit that I only have about $2,800 left in student loans to pay (I just threw another $400 at the principal), and I’ve committed to getting rid of that by the end of 2011.

I realize that I’m “lucky” that I don’t have more debt, but the reason I don’t is largely due to my own smart decision making in life so far. I don’t want to get preachy here, but some of the best things I’ve done so far in life are because I have so little debt: attended graduate school, completed a year of service, gone of a couple European vacations, and now setting my sights on leaving my job. I’m so close to achieving zero debt, and here’s what I’m looking forward to enjoying very very soon.

A debt-free goal will make you work harder

I’ve been a little bit lax with my SMART goals, but I’ve defined 3 of them very well.

1. Pay off all debt by 12/31/2011
2. Save $10k by 5/25/2012
3. Leave my job 5/25/2012

So far, I think I’m on track, but I know I need to generate more income to ensure that I meet these goals. Since I’ve already declared on here multiple times that these are my goals, I feel the pressure to make sure that I achieve them. That’s a good thing.

No need to concentrate on paying debt instead of concentrating on earning money

I want to take some risks while I’m building my freelance and other businesses, and there may be some times were cash flow is a little low. Being debt-free will give me one less bill (and a large bill, at that) to worry about paying each month and will ease the pressure to just generate income instead of managing my time goals in a more sustainable way.

Debt holds you back and will catch up with you

Being in debt feels is like a form of slavery. They essentially own a piece of everything you earn until you’re able to pay them off. I really want to get that burden off my shoulders. The idea of no debt just sounds and feel great!

You can concentrate on other financial goals

I need to be saving, not paying down debt. Until I pay off my debt, it feels like a distraction from that. Honestly, I can’t wait until the it’s gone because I can send a ton of my paycheck right towards my $10k fund. I’m not a Dave Ramsey superfan or anything, but his quote about “gazelle intensity” when it comes to debt has stuck with me. I’m so close to the payoff now that I’m motivated even more! Plus, monthly payments are another due date to worry about (and I’ve detailed how much I hate dealing with multiple bills before).

Since I have my goals above, my first priority when my paycheck comes in is always paying my loans and other bills before spending on anything else. Oftentimes, there’s little left out of my paycheck for spending on other things once I make all the transfers to meet my debt and savings goals.

Debt breeds more debt

For the obvious reasons of paying interest, having debt isn’t a good financial choice. I’ll save somewhere around $4,000 in interest by paying my loans off now rather than waiting 10 years. That’s powerful.

Advice for others before going into debt

Unless you want to be tied to your debt for years to come, don’t get into debt in the first place. That’s easier said than done, but really think twice before you purchase anything (including your education) on credit. Before you take out student loans, think twice about it. Do you need to go to the school that you’re taking out loans for? Do you actually need the loans themselves to pay tuition, or could you get a job that covers the cost while you’re in school instead?

When you purchase a house or a car, you’re stuck with the debt, but you’re also stuck with the house or car! Obviously, you can sell either of these things, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get back what you paid for them (especially with depreciation and the cost of cars), and selling a house is difficult in this market.

I don’t think it’s always bad to go into debt. I understand it from the perspective of buying a house. But, if you want to live like I want to live, getting into debt is a bad choice.

I’m really hoping to never have to go into debt again in life after this, and, hey, since I’m such a big fan of renting, it’s actually possible!

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photo by: Colin-47